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What’s Cool Where I’m From? Find Your Home State in the Collections!

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This blog was coordinated by Alli Hartley-Kong with contributions from Junior Fellows Khrisma McMurray and Kim Grossett, and interns Danielle Fedrigo and Jade Castillo Hermosillo.

One of my favorite things about working at the Library of Congress is the incredible array of people who are our colleagues, staff, and visitors. As a proud New Jersey native, I’m always excited when visitors in the share that they are also from New Jersey. I tell them about how our collection includes a photograph of the house where Bruce Springsteen wrote Born to Run, a song featured on the National Recording Registry, and how I researched New Jersey suffragette Alison Turnbull Hopkins in our newspaper reading room.

This summer, we welcomed Junior Fellows and interns from around the country. To learn how to mine the Library’s vast online collections, they searched famous people and events from their own states. Read below to see what they found!

Michigan and New York

Portrait of Rosa Parks at the White House after receiving the 1996 Presidential Medal of Freedom, Washington, D.C. From Rosa Parks Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

“One of my favorite things about Michigan is its shoreline—the huge great lakes, beautiful sand dunes, and abundant lighthouses. What’s even cooler about Michigan are the amazing people that have lived there. Did you know that Rosa Parks and Sojourner Truth both called Michigan home? The Library of Congress has a